Samsung has started shipping OEM versions 980-nvme-ssd
Asian webshops offer variants of the Samsung PM981. That is the OEM version of the Samsung 980-ssd, which will probably be on the market early next year. The nvme ssds are equipped with tlc-nand which consists of 64 layers.
Tom’s Hardware discovered that the Samsung PM981 is offered in 512GB and 1TB variants on Sailback.com, an online store from Vietnam. Converted, the NVME SSDs cost about 198 and 372 euros. However, it is likely that the OEM versions will be poorly available in retail and the consumer models are presumably more expensive.
The PM981 SSDs are equipped with Samsung’s own Polaris V2 controller and a photo shows that a thin, metal heatsink has been placed over the controller and memory chips. The SSDs use 64-layer TLC NAND. This would appear from the PM indication in the name. The Asian providers also show the speeds of the SSDs. Tom’s Hardware says it has seen benchmark results with even higher scores, but whether they are correct is not yet certain.
In August, Tom’s Hardware already discovered that Samsung plans to come up with the 970 and 980 SSDs, as a successor to the 960 Evo and 960 Pro. Samsung would plan to no longer handle the Evo and Pro additions. The 980 version probably has the same features as the PM981, the details of which are now known. The consumer version of the Samsung 980 nvme-ssd is expected to be released early next year.
| 197.5 euros | 372 euros |
| MZVLB512HAJQ-0000 | MZVLB1T10HALR-0000 |
| M2-2280SS | M2-2280SS |
| PCI-e 3.0 x4 | PCI-e 3.0 x4 |
| Samsung Polaris V2 | Samsung Polaris V2 |
| Samsung 64-layer TLC nand | Samsung 64-layer TLC nand |
| 3000MB/s | 3200MB/s |
| 1800MB/s | 2400MB/s |
| 270,000iops | 380,000iops |
| 420,000iops | 440,000iops |